A Bat in the web
by AzureSpider
Summary: One is the Dark Knight. The other a friendly neighborhood wall-crawler. They are the greatest heroes of their respective universes, but what happens when their paths cross? This series of adventures shows the answer. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

Peter decided he did not like big parties. As he made his way through throngs of fancily-dressed individuals, he took out his phone to try and call her.

"Hello? MJ?"

Peter was met only with the message machine. He'd heard that blasted machine too many times. Peter angrily put his phone away and got back to the task at hand. J. Jonah Jameson was a notoriously tight-fisted individual, so when he decided to co-host a massive charity event with Wayne Enterprises, it was pretty big news, especially for ironically, the employees of the Daily Bugle (like Peter for instance) Jameson had brought Peter with him as his photographer for the event, along with at least half of the Daily Bugle's employees. As it was, Peter really wasn't interested in parties at the moment. Ever since his falling out with MJ he'd been trying to get on the phone with her and make amends, but it hadn't been going too well. Peter was beginning to get the gut feeling that she didn't want to talk.  
Peter sighed and smacked himself on the forehead, more out of habit then because he actually forgot something. He didn't know what to do with himself 

"_I could always drown my misery in punch..."_ Peter thought.

As he went to get some, he was briefly shaken out of his thoughts by a familiar-sounding voice. It had it's usual seductive tone.

"Hi Peter"

Peter turned and found himself staring at an extremely attractive woman in a red dress. Her hair was white, but not with age, it was her natural color, and her eyes where emerald green. Peter would recognize this woman anywhere, but he wasn't exactly in the mood to talk.

"Hello Felicia."

She walked right up to Peter without any kind of subtlety. She already knew what was on his mind.

"Problems with the red-head?"

Peter felt like asking how she could possibly know that but instead he just nodded his head glumly. Desperate to get off the topic as quickly and efficiently as possible, he took a brief, curious look at Felicia's dress

"Red?"  
Felicia moved a little closer to him, a bit _too _close for Peter's liking, and said, almost in a whisper

"In case something happens and I need to...change, I wouldn't want anyone getting too suspicious."

"Felicia, you're the only platinum blonde in the mansion" Peter whispered back. "I would think it would be pretty obvious who the Black Cat is."

Felicia nudged her head to one side. Peter looked in the direction she was indicating and saw, lo, and behold, another platinum blonde.

"You where saying?"

Peter sighed deeply. He did not want to be bothered, and definitely not by an ex-girlfriend. And come to think of it, he had a lot of those...he did not want Mary Jane to become another. Felicia seemed to get wind that Peter did not want to talk. She sighed, rolled her green eyes a little, and walked away.

By now, the "Jolly One" as Peter called him, was already chatting it up with the various rich folk in Gotham as the Wayne Mansion butler was hastily walking around, passing out refreshments and the like. Walking with him was a man of agile build, with unkempt black hair that had recently been neatened, and looked to be around the same age as Peter. From the way he stood at that Butler's side so intently Peter guessed he was somehow affiliated with Bruce Wayne. That got Peter wondering: where was Bruce Wayne?

J. Jonah Jameson was thinking the same thing, so when he asked the butler, Alfred, the british valet simply said

"Master Bruce was preoccupied today and is therefore running a little late. I'm sure that he will be along shortly though."

Jameson seemed a little put out by this. "What kind of man doesn't go to his own charity event?" Jameson thought. Nevertheless, he kept up his pleasant demeanor. He shouted to Peter, who wasn't listening. He was just moping silently, entertaining the idea of calling MJ one last time but ultimately decided against it. Why, oh why, could she not understand, that he needs to be Spider-Man...but he needed her too...?

"PARKER!"

This shook Peter out of his thoughts. He saw Jameson motioning for him to come over, and Peter solemnly plodded over to him. Jameson instructed him to take a shot of him and some fat cat or another that he didn't recognize. Peter readied his trusty camera and snapped the picture, mildly impressed that Jameson was actually smiling for once.

As Peter snapped the photos, Dick Grayson just stood there, watching before walking off to get a drink. He helped himself to one of the non-alcoholic beverages, and began quietly drinking as he thought about when, or if, Bruce would be done with his current night's emergency. Something to do with that vampire-hunter he and Bruce had defeated a while back...

"Can't hold your liquor huh?"

Dick turned to the woman who addressed him. It was Felicia, but of course, he didn't know that. He just knew that he was looking at a really attractive woman. She had her green eyes fixed on him. Dick had been in this situation a few times in the past, so he wasn't completely at a loss for words, although he wasn't sure he'd ever seen anyone so...alluring before, except maybe Kori...

"I don't drink much" he finally responded.

Felicia moved a little closer to him. She knew someone interesting when she saw them.

"Well that's good to know. So...what's your part in this little event?"  
"I'm an adopted son of Bruce Wayne's. You?"

Dick and Felicia got to talking to one another and getting to know each-other. Peter shook his head as he watched from afar. She was incorrigible sometimes. Peter's attention was then shifted to the sudden appearance of a a helicopter. The vehicle attracted the attention of pretty much everyone in the mansion, and even more so when out came Bruce Wayne, with a woman under each arm.

"Glad to see you all got started without me, now, where is Mr. Jameson? Publisher of the Daily Bugle newspaper?"

Jameson rushed forward, practically bowling over several other people upon hearing his name. He walked over to Bruce and gave him quite the handshake.

"Glad to meet you, Bruce, (if I can call you Bruce) The Bugle's proud to work with such a prominent figure."

As Bruce went on to give a little speech, an armored car discreetly drove up to the back of the mansion. The back doors opened and out popped a dozen men in suits, dark-colored gloves, and distinctive white clown masks each with a unique facial design that covered their faces. The leader, a taller, thin-ish man with a clown mask with a red-lipped grin, a nose tipped with red, dark purple and blue rings around the eye-holes, and a tuft of green hair on top, turned to his men to give out orders.

"All right boys, let's do this. Virgil, Frank, you know the drill."

Two thugs, one in a mask with a frowny face, blue paint to represent five o' clock shadow, a red nose, red rims around the eyes, and blue eyebrows and the other with a mask with a blue-tipped nose, a red-lipped grin, and columns of blue over and around the eye-holes, moved forward to one of the power boxes stuck to the side of the mansion. Virgil, (the one with the grinning mask) took out a hammer like object and smashed open the power box. He then set about accessing the various wires as he had been instructed. Finally, everything was in place. He turned to the boss thug and gave his cue. The boss thug turned to the other 9 goons.

"You five, on the roof, get ready to rappel down when you get your cue. You four are with me. Virgil and Frank, you make sure no one gets out of here."

The five directed thugs scaled the side of the mansion, making their way up to the roof. They loaded their guns and prepared their grapple chords and gas bombs. Meanwhile, the boss thug and the others set themselves up near the windows. The boss thug turned to Virgil.

"Kill the lights"

Virgil cut the wire and all of Wayne Manor was plunged into darkness, and with it, chaos and confusion, several voices ringing out.

"The _F-_ Man?"

"What's going on?"

"Oh my G-d!"

Peter's spider-sense was going off like crazy, and he knew this power outage wasn't natural. As the mansion was cloaked in darkness, Peter discreetly made his way to the nearby restroom...

Finally, the lights where back on, and the people inside where horrified to find that several armed men with horrific-looking Clown masks where now among them. Dick recognized the "uniforms" and the thug's organization anywhere.

"_Joker_" Dick thought to himself. He turned to tell Felicia she should probably find someplace safe but was surprised to see she was already gone. Dick didn't have time to wonder, instead he made his way, ever-so-slowly to the secret spot where his Nightwing costume and clubs where stored. As he did, the Joker-thugs made their way through the terrified crowd. J. Jonah Jameson scowled at the thugs with contempt.

"What is the meaning of this? What do you crooks think you're doing! This is a charity event-"

"Shut up" The thug hit him with the but end of his assault rifle. Jameson spat out a bit of blood.

"HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I'M J. JONAH JAME-" 

The thug hit him with the butt end of his rifle yet again. "I said shut up ya old geezer"

By now, Jameson took a hint and stood down, tending to his heavily bloodied nose. The lead thug, flanked by two more goons, strolled up and down the crowd.

"All right listen up. In case you have trouble grasping the obvious, this is a robbery. Now I want each and everyone of you fat-cats to give us any and everything valuable you haven't already put in the donation boxes. Down to the last penny. If you don't, then we will help ourselves to the money in the donation boxes and execute one of you every five minutes until you are all dead. Is that clear?"

Everyone was too terrified to respond. People nervously eyed the thug's guns as Dick desperately awaited his chance to change into his Nightwing costume without attracting attention. The head thug fired his pistol into the air, the bullet striking the chandelier hanging above.

"I SAID IS THAT CLEAR!"

"Yes!" Was the unanimous response. Two of the thugs went by with bags in their hands and the various people where forced to dump whatever money they hadn't already donated, along with anything else they had that the thugs deemed valuable, into them. Down to the last watch and wedding ring. As they did, the thug leader shouted once more

"Now I'm just going to warn any "heroes" that come along that if they try anything..."  
another thug grabbed Robbie Robertson, Jameson's most trusted confidante at the Daily Bugle, and held a pistol to his head.

"We will execute this man, and a LOT of other people."

A strand of webbing hit the thug right in the face. Robbie elbowed him back and ran away as fast as possible. The thug struggled to tear of the webbing and finally resorted to just tearing the mask off. He looked up. There, clinging to the wall, was a figure in a distinctive red-and-blue costume.

"Robbing from a charity event? For shame!"

Spider-Man leaped down and kicked the thug to the ground. The head-thug back-pedaled furiously, emptying his pistol at the wall-crawler. Spider-Man expertly dodged every shot and with another strand of webbing, disarmed the head-thug of his pistol. "And here I thought clowns where supposed to be friendly..."  
Spider-Man's spider-sense went off and he leaped over another thug as he fired his rifle at him. Spider-Man shot a strand of webbing at his face before landing and pounding him good. Two more thugs moved in, and by now, Dick Grayson had the distraction he needed. He ran away from the scene of the battle and to where his costume and gear were kept in case of emergencies….

Meanwhile, Spider-Man continued to make complete fools out of the Joker-thugs, keeping up his endless string of one-liners and smart-ass remarks as he went.

"Come on guys. Yeah, a clown's life is a stressful one, but you're not seriously taking that out on these people are you? Can't you just do what you usually do? Pie to the face? Joybuzzer? The guns and threats don't seem very in-character..."

As he continued, Spider-Man was pleased to see that his one-liners where only making the thugs even angrier, and in their desperation to kill him, they became more sloppy. Peter kept up his routine, and soon, two more thugs where out cold. Another thug cocked his shotgun and got ready to fire when a steel club suddenly flew through the air. The club striked the thug right in the head, cracking his clown mask and knocking him down. Now, everyone's attention was turned to the newcomer: Nightwing, with two more steel clubs, one in each hand. Nightwing cartwheeled forward and delivered a kicking blow to another thug, knocking him back a bit. The thug staggered back up and Nightwing brought his twin clubs to the thug's head, shattering his mask and knocking him out.

By now, half of the thugs where out cold. Virgil and Frank radioed the head-thug and asked him what was going on.  
"Superheroes. Get your asses in here, we need help!"

Virgil and Frank where all set to rush in, it seemed, when the connection was killed.

"Virgil? Frank?" There was no response.

Another thug moved in, assault rifle ready, and opened fire into the crowd, callously disregarding any innocents that might be hurt. Seeing this, Spider-Man quickly webbed his rifle and tossed it aside, but the damage had been done. One person was dead, and three more where on the floor bleeding. Spider-Man leaped down and bandaged the wounded using webbing, before leaping back into the fray. The one who had shot at the crowd ran at Spider-Man, who leaped over him as he charged forward. Spidey landed as the thug turned and drew a combat knife. He charged at Spidey, who grabbed his knife hand with one hand and punched the thug twice in the ribs with the other.

Meanwhile, Nightwing was having to deal with the last three thugs. Seeing that they had no real chance of winning, the thugs opted for a different approach. The two goons hastily grabbed a person each and pulled them in front of them, guns aimed at their heads. The head thug took a holstered pistol from one of them and aimed it at Nightwing.

"OK Hero, listen up. If you don't want these two people to get their heads blown off, you'll just stand nice and still, and I'll kill you instead. Deal?"

A female voice rang out "I've got a better idea..." a clawed rope slashed through the air and disarmed the head thug of his gun. He and Nightwing looked up and down dropped Black Cat, who knocked out the two thugs with hostages with chops to the neck.

"How about you and your boys kiss the floor instead?"

"How many of you damn superheroes are there?"  
The head thug drew a crowbar and started swinging at Black Cat as the last thug resumed shooting at Nightwing. The two heroes dealt with their opponents with ease, so the thugs opted to switch partners at the last minute. A foolish move. Black Cat easily downed the last thug as the thug leader tried to bring his crowbar down on Nightwing, who easily blocked it by making an "x" with his twin clubs. Nightwing then pushed the crowbar back and delivered a vicious kick to the thug's chest that knocked him back. Spider-Man then moved in, webbing up the two thugs before they could get back up. It was over.

By now, several people had bolted from the mansion and fled (though not before retrieving their stolen valuables) and everyone else was rooted in place, paralyzed with fear at the series of events that had just transpired.

"I'm gonna kill Virgil and Frank if I ever see them again..." The head thug grumbled. "They where supposed to come in and provide back-up..."

Maniacal laughter then rang out, and the people inside panicked once again. Spider-Man's spider-sense starting buzzing intensely.

_"Oh no..." Peter thought. "Not him...not now..."_

Nightwing muttered under his breath "Joker?"

Spider-Man overheard and turned to regard Nightwing.

"Worse."

Then, almost on cue, a figure riding atop a strange flying machine resembling a giant bat burst through the already broken roof, laughing maniacally. He wore a light green bodysuit, with purple armored boots and gauntlets that stopped at the wrist, with clawed green gloves past that. His torso was covered with more purple armor, and he wore a short, shredded purple cape. And then there was the mask. It was green, like the bodysuit, with pointy ears, topped with a purple cap, and possessing a leering smile of sheer sadism accompanied by yellow eyes that showed nothing but madness.

"Greetings, hello, Bosnia! I am the GREEN GOBLIN!"

"The Green Goblin?

The Goblin beamed with pride as he turned to regard Nightwing.

"Yes my boy! The Green Goblin! The most cunning supervillain in New York City! The master of her criminal underworld! And HIS greatest enemy!" Green Goblin pointed directly at Spider-Man as he said that last part. Everyone in the mansion turned their gazes to the web-slinger.

"Uh..."

The Goblin cackled maniacally and launched a volley of pumpkin bombs. Spider-Man, Black Cat, and Nightwing leaped out of the way as the bombs came raining down. The Goblin flew around and launched another volley, accompanied by razor-bats. Once again, the three heroes used their superior agility to dodge the projectiles as Spider-Man took to webbing people out of the way, including a certain publisher who was a little less then grateful...

"PUT ME DOWN YOU MASKED LUNATIC!" Jameson hollered as Spider-Man pulled him out of the way of a Pumpkin Bomb.

"I'LL BET YOU AND THAT NUT ARE IN CAHOOTS! YOU-"

Spidey shot some webbing over Jameson's mouth to shut him up, which only enraged him further, but at least now he couldn't express it verbally. Spidey set Jameson down and leaped back into the fray against his most hated enemy.

Meanwhile, Nightwing and Black Cat weren't doing so well against the Green Goblin. His glider kept him safe from harm, and he threw his explosives with a deadly mix of reckless abandon and keen precision. Nightwing hurled one of his clubs at the Green Goblin but he merely dodged the strike by flying out of the way.

"HA HA! Missed me!" The Goblin cackled once more, before pointing one of his gloved hands at Nightwing, with two fingers extended. Out came a laser blast of a sickly yellow color. Nightwing barely leaped out of the way in time. The Goblin fired another laser blast from his gloves. Then another. Finally, he prepped another pumpkin bomb...

A strand of webbing struck him in the face. The Goblin dropped his Pumpkin Bomb and tore the webbing off. Spidey swung in at that moment and kicked the Goblin off his glider. The Goblin quickly recovered and the two began a vicious exchange of blows. Spider-Man fought with a bit more zeal then he was used to. Probably because he hated the Green Goblin. ANY Green Goblin. After what Norman had done...

"So, Spidey," The Goblin said in between a chuckle and another attempted blow.

"I do so hope you're not still angry about the poor blonde girl" The Goblin said that last bit with mockery and false sympathy. A second later he burst out laughing. Something in Spidey snapped about there. But he was also confused. _How did he know? It couldn't be Norman. Norman is dead. He couldn't know..._

Spidey chose to ignore it and kept up his attack. The Goblin popped a long, sharp  
blade out of his gauntlet and started to thrust and swing wildly. Spider-Man dodged each blow as it came, and then kicked the Goblin back. The Goblin quickly recovered and Spidey dodged the next blow. Nightwing leaped in and made his attack as the Goblin was distracted. The Goblin took a few punishing blows before swatting Nightwing away with his arm. The former boy wonder went sailing across the room and crashed right into a nearby table. He felt a fractured rib.

_Dammit, he's strong..._

The room came back into focus and Dick saw a black gloved hand extended offering to help him up. Dick took it and Black Cat pulled him up. It hurt. He definitely had a fractured rib. He turned to Black Cat.

"Who is this Green Goblin exactly?" 

"You should probably ask the Spider that. After he's done with him."

The way she said that, and what the Green Goblin himself had said, definitely suggested that Spider-Man and this "Green Goblin" had history, and not pleasant history at that. Nightwing watched as Spider-Man and the Green Goblin kept up their exchange. He could see how Spider-Man was fighting. Faster, harder, more brutally...Dick had seen this before whenever Bruce fought the Joker after Jason's death. It was the mark of a man cutting loose against his most hated enemy. He wondered if Spidey would be tempted to go too far...

Meanwhile, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin kept up their battle. Goblin seemed to be tiring, making mistakes. That wasn't like him. Spidey was now beginning to think it was an impostor then. A false successor. Another attempted slash by the Green Goblin with his wrist-blade shook Spider-Man out of his thoughts. Spider-Man dodged the blade enough that it didn't seriously injure him, but it did manage to cut his costume a bit. Spider-Man landed an uppercut and then a vicious kick that knocked the Green Goblin up into the wall. Spider-Man webbed his wrists to the wall to keep him from escaping, and then ran up to him and landed a vicious punch to the jaw. Then, he grabbed the mask. Time to see who this "Green Goblin" was...

Spider-Man pulled the mask right off. He was dumbstruck by what he saw. A sullen, but youthful face stared back at him, with light brown hair that was a little slicked back, and hard brown eyes. He'd know this man anywhere. He was, had been, his best friend...

"YOU'RE the Green Goblin!" No, that's not possible, it can't be you...it just can't..."

Harry Osborn, son of the late Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, stared venomously at his former friend.

"Surprised Peter? You shouldn't be. I told you I'd avenge my father...and I intend to do it right now!"

Harry, using all of his strength, ripped off one of the bits of webbing pinning his wrist and launched a hand at Peter's throat. Peter moved out of the way and then his Spider-Sense started to go off...

Peter instinctively moved out of the way. He heard a sickening sound of blades piercing flesh and a horrified gasp by the crowd following it. Peter turned around in horror. Harry Osborn, his best friend, had been impaled by his own glider, just like his father before him...

Spider-Man whipped around. The crowd was staring at him with a mix of expressions that ranged from horrified and disbelieving, to angry, and accusatory. Robbie and Felicia had the former expression, Jameson the latter. Nightwing just stared at him hard. Then, Peter's spider-sense began to go off again. Several GCPD officers, led by Harvey Bullock burst in at that moment. They where greeted with a crowd of panicked on-lookers, ten unconscious and incapacitated thugs, and a four costumed individuals, one of which had a large metal device sticking out of him, blood now forming as a puddle beneath him. One of the Cops whispered to Bullock.

"That guy, in the red and blue, I think that's the Spider-Man, from New York City."

Bullock turned to him and growled "Well what in blazes is he doing here!"

"I don't know sir, but that corpse over there, looks an awful lot like the Green Goblin, Spider-Man's arch-enemy..." 

"How the hell do you know all of this corporal?"

"I...I uh...I read a lot on superheroes..."

"Never mind." Bullock turned. Spider-Man and and Nightwing were still there, but the female costumed character had disappeared, having undoubtedly run off while Bulliock was talking to Corporal Jenkins. Bullock swore to himself and then looked at what the rest of the scene was. The Green Goblin had been impaled by some strange-looking device, and his hands had been restrained. He glared at Spider-Man, his gun aimed at him.

"All right ya freak. Hands where I can see them. You got a few questions to answer..."

Meanwhile, Peter was panicking. These police must have thought he had killed Harry. But he hadn't! Well, he had webbed Harry's hands to the wall, so he couldn't escape when the glider came at him...No. That wasn't the same thing. But the cops might not think so. Jameson was going to have a field day over this, but Peter couldn't think about that right now. Thoughts and scenarios where rushing in and out of his head. He had to act, and fast. Peter sprinted to one of the windows, using his superior agility to dodge the bullets before Bullock ordered a cease-fire, not wanting his men to accidentally shoot at the innocent bystanders. Spider-Man made his way to the window that had been broken by the Joker-thugs entry, and swung away into the night. Seeing this, Bullock turned to his men and barked out orders.

"ALL RIGHT! Lock this place down! No one in or out until the Commissioner gets here! I want these crooks on the floor in cuffs! I want the body bagged and ready for the ME to look at!" Bullock turned to regard Nightwing, but saw, to his extreme frustration, that he was nowhere to be found... 


	2. Chapter 2

The news was on. The figure in the shadows watched intently. Everything had gone according to plan. The GCPD had identified the dead Green Goblin as Harry Osborn, Spider-Man was nowhere to be found, and now the GCPD had orders to bring him in. As predicted, the Daily Bugle was also fanning the flames. Things had gone perfectly. Another shadowed figure was also watching the proceedings.

"Looks like everything went as planned."

"Indeed it did. Now we begin the second phase"

"Yes, yes. Free the others, use them to cause chaos and serve as a distraction. And then when, he's at his weakest...CRUSH HIM!" The shadowed figure cracked up at that as the other remained silent. Finally, the other figure added

"And the Spider too"

"And the spider too" the first shadowed figure agreed.

"We know the Clown is the obvious one to free first. Any other candidates?"

"I have someone else already. You may find the choice a little bit _Shocking_..."

"That was a terrible pun"

"Hey, its true" a gruff voice responded. The one shadowed figure turned to regard the man in front of them. He was clad in a strange yellow suit with a diamond-pattern, with a mask that had the same pattern, as well as a red stripe that went downward. His boots, gloves, and part of his chest piece where also red, and over the gloves, he wore metal gauntlets.

"Hello Herman."

-X-

Bruce was hard at work in the Batcave, analyzing the evidence from the crime scene that had taken place in his own mansion. He examined the photos of the Green Goblin's corpse, the autopsy reports (both the GCPDS and his own) and other evidence: bullets, eye-witness accounts (he'd already read through 40 or so) and the Goblin's dropped Pumpkin Bomb, which had been _very carefully_ disassembled and examined. All of the evidence laid out the scenario as Dick himself had described it, but the matter of Spider-Man's guilt, and some of the mysteries involving the Green Goblin remained to be solved...His old protege's voice shook him out of his thoughts.

"So, where were you when your mansion became a battle-field?"

Bruce didn't bother to look up from his work as he answered Nightwing.

"I've already got enough suspicion that Bruce Wayne may be somehow affiliated with me. If I were to show up in Wayne Manor as Batman, in the middle of a crisis, and shortly after Bruce Wayne arrived...it would all look very suspicious. And besides, I trusted you, Spider-Man, and this Black Cat to handle things. And now here we are, looking over all of this, with Spider-Man now a wanted man..."

Bruce was continuing to go over the evidence as he spoke. Not seeming to care, Nightwing kept up his conversation.

"Do you really think Spider-Man can be considered a murderer? I mean, he had no way of knowing what the Goblin would do with that glider thing of his. If anyone's to blame for the Green Goblin's death, it's well...the Green Goblin."

"I agree. Unfortunately, there are people who don't share that viewpoint. People like J. Jonah Jameson will definitely want to see Spider-Man punished as severely as possible for this."

"I still can't believe you hosted a charity event with that guy..."

"A means to an end. And besides, while he has a strong dislike of...vigilantes, he does have his positive qualities..."

"And you know that how?"

"Because he was talking my ear off before the Joker's thugs attacked the mansion."

Bruce, done with analyzing the pile of evidence laid out in front of him, walked over to the Bat-Computer and began to continue his research into the Green Goblin's history. The original had been identified as Oscorp CEO Norman Osborn following his death, so it made sense that this one was Harry Osborn, but Bruce wasn't so sure it was that simple. He had a sample of Harry Osborn's blood, but he had nothing to compare it to. No way of knowing if it was an impostor or not.

There was also the fact that this Green Goblin had been impaled by his own glider just like the original. That definitely wasn't mere coincidence, not that Bruce ever believed in coincidences anyway. The fact that both Goblin's deaths where identical suggested it may have been staged, but by who? If it was an impostor, there was still the question of where the real Harry Osborn was. His wife Liz Osborn had said she hadn't seen him in weeks and had started to worry...

Bruce decided he would need more evidence then what he had if he was to get any further. Finding wherever the Goblin's equipment came from would be a good first step...  
An alarm rang out. Bruce looked up. Something was happening at Arkham Asylum. Worst possible timing, but nevertheless, Bruce got up and made his way to the Batmobile...

-X-

He sat in his usual spot, in his usual cell, in his usual Asylum.

No one had visited him in a while, and all the guards just slid his food under the door and left him to his own devices. He knew they hoped he'd starve. To be fair, he had killed one's wife, and another one's brother, as well as the two guard's predecessors...

He hadn't taken care of his image in a while either. His white make-up was beginning to fade, his green hair was now quite unkempt, with some of it falling over his eyes before he pushed it away, and of course, he was stuck in an orange jumpsuit, instead of his usual purple and green attire.

Well, they always had said orange was the color of insanity...

Then, he heard a rumbling sound. It was faint, at first. Then it happened again. And again. And again. The rumbling was staring to get louder. He could hear the alarms going off and could make out screams. He liked that. Then, just when the rumbling sounds got progressively louder, they grew faint once more. Then, he heard them grow louder again. He knew what this was about.

_Oh Goody! Someone's looking for me!"_

He sat patiently, and kept waiting. Then, the wall to his cell was blasted down, and out stepped a man in a rather odd costume. Joker didn't recognize him, but he noticed that the gauntlets he wore over his red gloves where steaming and sparkling. Whatever they where, Joker was sure they where what had caused the rumbling. The man spoke at him with a gruff tone.

"Get up clown. I'm busting you out of here."

Joker turned his blood-red lips into a smirk.

"Well, hang on a minute. I need to get changed. Wouldn't want to go out on the town in _this_ get up. Heh, heh, heh..."

Shocker rolled his eyes as the Joker left through the exit he had made. Picking up an incapacitated guard's assault rifle, he began a systematic rampage to where his clothes where stored, killed the guards to the storage room, and then donned his beloved purple suit.

_Ah, it's been too long..._

Joker met back up with Shocker and the two made their way through one of the prison wings, taking down any and all security forces that intercepted them. As the two went down one of the prison wings, the inmates could see quite clearly that the Joker was in the process of escaping the Asylum again. Some cheered him on, others booed and yelled obscenities, and others still shouted out to him and Shocker to free them as well. Joker and Shocker ignored each and every one of them as they kept moving.

As the two continued, Shocker felt a faint yet pleasant aroma. He turned in it's direction and saw a beautiful woman in one of the nearby cells. Well, beautiful except for the light green skin that was. But she still looked so alluring...Shocker shook his head. He didn't understand why he was thinking that. He'd never been into women before, and he didn't plan to start now, least of all with a woman with green skin. And yet...

She was beckoning to him, calling to him. Asking to be released in his head. Shocker suddenly felt compelled to blast her cell wall down...

Joker grabbed Shocker's shoulder and brought his mind back to reality.

"Oh no, no, no no. Trust me, you _don't_ want to do that." Joker chuckled and shot Poison Ivy a grin as he and Shocker kept walking, leaving her un-freed. She shot him a look that would have gone through most men like a bullet, but not Joker.

As the two kept walking, they heard another voice, one that was pouring everything he had into his vocal chords.

"Help! Please let me out! Please! I need to find Scarface!"

Joker turned to the source of the voice: Arnold Wesker, the Ventriloquist. Despite being in his mid-fifties, he still knew how to be loud when he was desperate.

"Please! I need to find Scarface, or he'll have my head!"

Joker grinned. "Oh, do you mean, _this_ scarface!"

Joker unveiled the mobster puppet Scarface, which he'd swiped when he found it stored with his clothes. He soon found that he couldn't operate the puppet as well as Ventriloquist but that wasn't too surprising. Nevertheless, now that Ventriloquist was there, he decided, why not torment the poor bastard a bit?  
Upon seeing Scarface, Ventriloquist's eyes widened in horror. The puppet then began to speak all of a sudden, which really freaked Shocker out.

"Arnold, don't just stand there gawking! The damn clown's gonna smoke me! You're not gonna let him smoke me are ya!"  
"No NO! Of course not! Joker! Let him go! Give him to me!"

"Well I don't know..." Joker said mockingly "...I was planning to spend some quality time with ol' Scarface here..."

Joker put the barrel of his assault rifle to Scarface's wooden head. Ventriloquist shrieked hysterically, making Joker's grin grow ever wider.

"Stop it! STOP IT!" Ventriloquist was now having a nervous breakdown, and Joker was getting a real kick out of watching it. Finally Ventriloquist said "I'll help you! I will! I'll do whatever you want, but give me Scarface!"

"Hmmm...sure! What the heck? We could use another man on the team...you got yourself a deal Arnie my boy!"

Joker grabbed Shocker's wrist gauntlet without warning and fired it right at the Ventriloquist's cell before Shocker could shake him off. When the dust settled, Ventriloquist timidly inched his way out of his cell. Joker tossed him Scarface, which he caught, and then ran forward, chuckling to himself. Shocker shot Ventriloquist a glare before running right behind. Ventriloquist nervously looked around, briefly shot his "boss" an uncertain look, and then ran off behind Joker and Shocker. As the three villains exited, they were greeted by the appearance of the Batmobile.

"Ah! The Batman! Right on cue!" Joker grinned once more. He always had fun wherever the Bat was concerned...

Shocker let loose with the most powerful shock blast he could muster and directed it at the bottom of the Batmobile, smart enough to know that the hood would resist the impact. The blast hit the batmobile and caused it to bolt upwards. The vehicle then tipped over in mid-air and collapsed on it's side. Not wanting to stick around and check to see if the Bat was dead or not, Shocker kept running to the armored car he had waiting outside, with Joker and Ventriloquist right behind.

"Aw, now why did you have to do _that_ Shocky? I wanted to have some fun with old Bats!"

"Shut up Clown. We're almost home-free..."

Upon arriving at the armored car, Shocker got into the driver's seat while Joker and Ventriloquist loaded on. No sooner had the two gotten in and closed the doors then Shocker sped off, leaving Arkham Asylum behind in the dust.

Meanwhile, Batman found himself pinned, trapped inside the now over-turned Batmobile. The vehicle would become his tomb if he didn't move quickly enough. Scrambling for the knife in his belt, Batman struggled to cut himself out of the seat-belt, and then punched the ejection sequence with his other hand. An alarm sounded as the Batmobile began to break apart. The hood came off, then the wheels, and finally most of the back until all that remained was a stripped down vehicle that resembled an odd sort of motorcycle. The "Bat-Pod" as he called it, was just a prototype, and probably wouldn't hold together long, so Batman would have to hurry if he wanted to catch up with the armored car. Driving off at top speed, Batmn raced off in the direction the armored car had gone...

-X-

The Daily Bugle staff were all in the airport prepared to head off back to New York when reports came in on the news on the recent escape of the Joker and the Ventriloquist. J. Jonah Jameson began hollering for Peter Parker. When he nervously stepped forward, Jameson yelled:

"Paker, good to see you. Can you believe our luck? Two homicidal psychopaths escape from the looney bin and are on a rampage, and half the Daily Bugle happens to be here when it happens! Parker, I need you to go down to were all of this is going down and get me some pictures!"  
Robbie Robertson spoke up: "Jonah you can't be serious! The Joker's a mass-murderer, and the Ventriloquist is nothing to sneeze at either. You're not seriously thinking of sending him to get some pictures are you?"

"Come on Robbie. Parker's a resourceful kid, he's taken pictures of the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and that freak Spider-Man! He'll be fine!"

"I don't know Jonah, I think Peter has a right to decide if he wants to go through with this or not..."

"Whaddya mean "he's got a right to decide? He works for me!"

"Uh...it's really OK Robbie, I'll be fine" Peter said, trying to sound as un-awkward as possible.

Robbie turned to face him. "Are you sure Peter? I wouldn't want you to..."

"No no, it's fine Robbie. I've got it." This time, Peter sounded much more confident.

"There you see Robbie! Parker will be fine..." Jonah then focused his attention back to Peter.

"NOW GET ME PHOTOS!"

Peter nodded and sprinted off. In truth, the real reason he had elected to play along with this was to help stop the Joker and the Ventriloquist as Spider-Man. But as he kept running, he suddenly remembered what had happened last time...

It didn't matter. He hadn't killed the Green Gobl—Harry. He had not killed Harry. And even if other people thought so, and hated him for it, it wouldn't matter. He got a lot of crap from people as it was, courtesy of the Daily Bugle, so that didn't make a difference. Although, now that they thought he had actually _killed_ someone, the police might make the concerted effort to bring him in...Well,if nothing else, he would still try his best and get his usual photo-money in the process...

-X-

The Armored car kept up it's drive through the streets. Shocker knew that the GCPD would be looking for armored cars like his, so it would be best to keep a low profile until when, or if, they eventually discovered him. Of course, to avoid suspicion, he would have to remove his mask, but that didn't matter to him, since his identity was already known to New York authorities. He kept the car driving slowly. It seemed that Joker and Ventriloquist also knew the value of stealth because amazingly, they both kept quiet. The Armored car kept driving until it got stuck behind another car. The light was green but for some reason, the driver wasn't moving his car forward. As a result, the light turned red again and the armored car was stuck.

Shocker hated it when that happened. When people were too stupid to move at a green light. He began honking his horn off with absolute fury. This attracted the attention of a nearby police officer who walked up to the car.

"Hey, you wait like everybody else pal-"

Joker ran forward to the passenger's window and shot the officer in the chest. The blast at close range created a shower of blood and knocked the officer back. Shocker swore under his breath. The damn clown had blown their cover. Putting his foot on the gas pedal, Shocker sped through, ironically, just as the light turned green again, albeit a good 18 miles over the speed limit. The speeding car, (and the officer's murder) cued all the nearby police in that they had found their suspect vehicle. As Police cars sped after Shocker in pursuit, he kept his foot on the gas pedal, going as fast as the car would go without running out of gas too quickly. Seeing some people crossing the street Shocker honked his horn repeatedly to tell them to get out of his way. He might be a crook, but he wasn't crazy about running over an innocent family.

The cops, however, that was another story. A police-car came up right near the Armored Car. Shocker swerved the vehicle dramatically, knocking it into the police-car and forcing it off the road and into a nearby sidewalk. Two more cars drove up behind. Joker, ran back to the rear of the car, threw open one of the doors, and started opening fire on another police-car, badly damaging the hood, and shattering the windshield. Nevertheless, the car kept going, so Joker fired his next few shots at the tires, blowing them out and causing the police-car to crash into the third and last one. Joker broke into a hysterical fit of laughter as he watched it.

The armored car drove past an intersection, now going 22 miles over the speed-limit. This attracted the attention of another police-car, this one containing Harvey Bullock's partner Renee Montoya's and _her_ partner Wilkes. Seeing what was obviously the suspect vehicle, the two drove off after it. Seeing their car, the Joker got ready to fire at the car again. Ventriloquist, with Scarface in hands, pushed past him.

"Outta my way clown! This one's mine!"

Scarface hefted an Uzi in his wooden hands and opened fire on Renee's car. Renee swerved to avoid the spray of bullets, taking care to not lose control of the car. Scarface continued firing at the car. Thinking quickly, Renee's partner Wilkes grabbed his shotgun and returned fire. The gun's close-range nature ensured that the spray of bullets didn't hit their intended targets, but it was enough to spook Scarface and Ventriloquist. Joker, meanwhile, opted to improvise, and started looking in the back of the armored car for a new weapon. It wasn't long before he found precisely what he was looking for. He came back out hefting a massive rocket launcher. It only had one rocket, but at their distance, and with it's explosive force, Joker wasn't concerned about accuracy. Renee's eyes widened in horror upon seeing the rocket launcher. But before the Joker could fire, a strand of webbing latched onto the rocket launcher and began to pull the weapon out of the Joker's hands. Joker struggled to keep the rocket launcher in his possession but ultimately, it was torn from his grip and tossed aside. The Amazing Spider-Man had arrived.

"Party pooper..." Joker muttered. He ran back in and grabbed his assault rifle and started shooting at Spider-Man who avoided all of the shots with his superior agility and web-swinging. Meanwhile, the Batman, riding atop the Bat-Pod, finally caught up with the armored car. Joker grinned upon seeing the Dark Knight.

"Now _there's_ a Batman...AND the Spider-Man! It's two for the price of one! Heh heh.."

Meanwhile, Spider-Man leaped down on the hood of the armored car, covering up the windshield and making it impossible for Shocker to see.

"Aw hell..."

"Pull over know, Shocky, before ya hurt somebody..."

Shocker aimed one of his gauntlets at Spider-Man.

"Die ya web-slinging freak!"

Spider-Man leaped over the hood of the car and onto the top as Shocker fired his blast, completely destroying the windshield. Spider-Man began pounding on the top of the car as hard as he could. It hurt his hands, but he made progress, denting the top of the vehicle pretty well. Then, his spider-sense started to go off and he moved out of the way as a shotgun blast tore through the area of the car Spider-Man had been pounding his fists on.

Spider-Man peered into the hole and saw Ventriloquist holding Scarface, who was armed with a shotgun. Acting quickly, Spider-Man fired a strand of webbing that suck to the mobster puppet and heaved it out of Ventriloquist's hands. Ventriloquist screamed in horror as Spider-Man held Scarface aloft and threw away it's shotgun.

"Lemme go ya gastard!"

Spider-Man turned to face Scarface, who had seemingly talked by himself.

"You _gastard_? I think a certain little puppet needs some spelling lessons..."

"Shaddup and put me down!" Scarface shouted.

Spider-Man webbed the puppet up, which caused Ventriloquist to go ballistic.

"PUT MR. SCARFACE DOWN!"

Meanwhile, Batman fired the Bat-Pod's guns at the tires of the armored truck, blowing them away. The car skidded out of control and crashed on it's side whereupon it skidded to a halt. Shocker forced his way out of the side of the car only to be webbed up by Spider-Man, who had also gotten Ventriloquist.

"Son of a-"

Spider-Man's spider-sense started to buzz and he instinctively dodged out of the way of the Joker's bullets. The clown was now on top of the armored car's side, brazenly firing on Spider-Man. Putting Ventriloquist and Shocker down, Spidey moved out of the way of the Joker's next barrage. Firing a strand of webbing at the Joker's gun, Spider-Man attempted to pull it out of his hands. But the Joker was stronger then he looked, and he refused to give it up, no matter how much Spidey pulled. He was ready to fire again when Batman leaped from behind and tackled the clown. The two tumbled off the side of the armored car. Batman proceeded to force him up against the side of the vehicle and punch him repeatedly until he was out cold. Spidey leaped down as Batman was cuffing the Joker.

"Thanks for the save. That nut was tougher then he looked. You sure he doesn't have any superpowers?"

Batman glared at Spider-Man, the same way he glared at any hero whenever they cracked a bad joke in his presence. For him, what they did wasn't anything to joke about. And as it was, he had words with Spider-Man. He turned to him and cut to the chase:

"I need you to come with me"

"What? Why...? Oh...listen: that **_wasn't_** my fault, he was trying to kill me, he killed himself. I didn't kill him!"

"I'm not here to turn you into the police. Quite the opposite: I want you to come with me back to the cave. So we can talk this o-"

"The "cave"? You're kidding right? Thanks, but no thanks. My mom doesn't like it when I have sleep-overs with dark, anti-social vigilantes..."

Spidey got ready to move when Batman grabbed his wrist in a near-crushing grip.

"This isn't a request."

Using all of the strength he can muster, Spidey hurled Batman over his head, forcing the Dark Knight to release his grip. As Batman landed, Spider-Man took the opportunity to swing away, leaving Batman in the dust.

"You just made this a lot harder then it needed to be..."

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to add the next chapter. I had trouble finishing this one, and I also had other projects I was working on. For those that were curious as to why I included Ventriloquist and Scarface, well, I can't help but have a soft spot for that duo. I like the concept of the characters. so I included them.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: And so, by popular demand, I have at long last continued my Batman Spider-Man crossover! I must say I am truly amazed at how many favorites and story alert subscriptions this thing has gotten. Obviously its popular. But why? I would love to know what you all think of my story. Be sure to leave more reviews!**

Batman prepared everything he felt he would need for his little odyssey into New York and then some. The usual utility belt tools had been changed and tweaked specifically for his situation, and he also brought with him a few specially prepared counter-measures against Spider-Man…just in case. It always paid to expect the unexpected after all.

As his butler Alfred and Nightwing looked on, he was also applying the final touches to some unseen device or another that he then quickly put away in one of the pouches on his belt. His curiosity piqued, Nightwing called out to his old mentor:

"Hey Bruce, what was that last thing for?"

Batman turned to regard Dick and gave his answer:

"A countermeasure against the Green Goblin if I run into him while in New York."

"But Bruce the Green Goblin's DEAD!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I still have my suspicions that he's a fake but I won't know for sure until I get a DNA sample that Harry Osborn left behind to compare to the body. I am not ruling out the possibility of an imposter just yet."

"Bruce, don't you think that the police would have figured out by now whether the body's really Osborn or not?"

"No. Not yet. The body's being shipped to New York for the CSI team there to examine. I want to look at it myself before they're done with it. And if it is an imposter, then someone went to great lengths to make it convincing. This may be a bit out of the NYPD's league. Besides, I've also got an appointment with a certain wall-crawler while I'm there…"

"Come on Bruce, the kid's already being condemned by Jameson and others as a murderous nut. He was obviously stressed out."

"That doesn't change anything. This still involves him and therefore I still need to talk with him"

"All right…but don't be surprised if he throws you over his head again."

Bruce shot his protégé a look. He then turned to Alfred.

"Are the preparations made?"

"Yes sir. The necessary steps have been taken to ensure that Bruce Wayne's absence does not become too noticed. That said though, I do hope you make it back soon. I'm not sure how long our little façade will hold."

"I'll keep that in mind."

And with that, Batman headed off to the Bat-Wing, clambering aboard and ready to head off to the city of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, among many other things. As he prepared to take off, Dick called back to him:

"Hey, if you get to see Broadway be sure to send me a postcard OK?"

Batman rolled his eyes at his protégé's wise-guy remark as the Bat-Wing took off and flew out of the Batcave and off to New York City…

-X-

Peter got back into his apartment, shut the door and sighed deeply. His time back in New York had been mostly miserable with Jonah both shouting in his ear all day and also making sure to condemn his alter-ego as a murderer the second he got back to the Bugle. Peter knew that this would make life much more difficult for him as Spider-Man now that people actually thought he was a killer instead of just a vigilante. And if the police actually started trying to find him and bring him down…

Peter felt like despairing. He didn't want to give into all of the stress. But it looked like he'd been backed into a corner with no way out. He would either have to stop being Spider-Man, which he couldn't do, or keep at it and run the risk of becoming the victim of a Police manhunt. Neither option was an appealing one.

But then as he continued to wallow in despair a third option came to light: clear his name. Peter was a photographer after all. If he could just find something to exonerate him, he could take a picture of it and turn in the photographic evidence as Peter Parker…unfortunately, the only thing Peter could think of would be to take a photo of Harry's body with the glider marks, showing how it was Harry's own glider that had killed him.

And so as nauseating as the idea of having to take a picture of his former friend's dead body was, Peter knew that it might just be his only ticket out of becoming a fugitive. So, with a heavy heart, he grabbed his camera, put on his spider-man costume, and made his way to the city morgue…

-X-

Batman quickly discovered that moving around New York City was at times refreshingly similar to moving around Gotham and other times, quite different. For one thing, New York's skyscrapers and overall layout was a lot different then Gotham City, and if Batman had to guess, more akin to Metropolis, which Batman always hated travelling through, for a multitude of reasons.

Still, he made his way around well enough, just not as fluently and quickly as he would have preferred. Finally, he arrived at his destination: New York City's CSI building.

Utilizing the usual tools of the trade as far as breaking and entering into buildings was concerned, Batman cautiously made his way in and navigated the hallways and floors, sticking to the shadows as he did so, until he at last came to his destination: the morgue. For a moment, Batman realized that the manner in which he infiltrated the building and disabled the security measures reminded him of Selina's cat burglar days, and the comparison was not appealing. But then Batman simply reminded himself of the differences in the scenarios and continued on.

He didn't bother to check the door, already knowing that it was locked. Instead, he went around the back and applied a cutting laser to the back-door, allowing him to make his way in. Batman closed the door and examined the morgue. The lights were turned off, so Batman turned on his flashlight and swept it across the room. As he advanced into the morgue, he illuminated the first of the body drawers. Knowing that the recent additions would likely be at either the front or the back, Batman checked the back ones first. The first drawer did not contain Harry Osborn, or any body for that matter. As he was shutting it, Batman could hear someone approaching the front door. Turning off his flashlight, Batman exited the room and hid behind the back door as he heard two people walk in.

"Hey look, I said I was sorry. But its important OK? What do you want from me Lindsay?"

"Sigh, I swear to G-d Danny, you forget the littlest things sometimes…"

Batman remained hidden under the doorway, continuing to listen. Eventually, their voices and footsteps both slowly faded away. Batman remained in his hiding place until he was certain they were gone. Slowly reopening the back-door, Batman made his way in and took to re-examining the body drawers. After looking through all of the back ones, Batman went to the front…

He pulled one drawer, and sure enough, there was Harry Osborn's body, cleaned up, but thankfully not yet bearing the scars of an autopsy. That meant that Batman was in luck. Shining his flashlight on the body, he examined the corpse, and compared it to photographic references he had acquired of Osborn. They matched up. Still not satisfied, Batman examined the glider injuries, and then, took out a miniature camera and snapped some pictures of the body before closing the drawer. As he prepared to walk out, he heard someone approach. Batman swiftly retreated into the shadows. It wasn't long before he got to see who the newcomer was…

-X-

Spider-Man made his way to the morgue and cursed himself when he realized that he would have to check every drawer for Harry's body. As if he didn't feel dirty enough. Part of him was now really beginning to wonder if it was worth it…

His spider-sense started going off. Spider-Man whipped around, ready to fire his webbing out at whatever came his way. But as it stood there was nothing there. At least not as far as Spidey could see. But his spider-sense was still buzzing, and that told him that there was something there. Someone was hiding.

Spider-Man advanced cautiously forward in the direction of the threat his spider-sense was warning against…and a thick cloud of smoke suddenly appeared in front of him, blinding him. His spider-sense still warning him, Spider-Man held his ground and leaped out of the way as his foe attempted to stun him with what looked like a tazer. Firing another strand of webbing, Spider-Man disarmed his attacker of the tazer, only to be forced to dodge a familiar-looking projectile…

"Oh no, not you. You followed me all the way home? From Gotham? Man, you're persistent…"

"Hold on Spider-Man. I don't want a fight"

"Could have fooled me. What do you want Bats? I told you, the Green Goblin's death wasn't my fau—"

"I know that. But his death still _involves_ you. And if you want your name cleared, you'll let me help you"

Spider-Man paused and considered what Batman had told him. It was true that his current situation was a sticky one, but he wasn't so sure that he wanted Batman's help. But then he remembered that Batman had actually bothered to pursue him all the way from Gotham City. He was not going to let this go. Spider-Man sighed. _What kind of idiot turns down an offer for help anyway? _Spider-Man reasoned. Finally, he said:

"All right"

Batman nodded. "Good. There's nothing left to do here. Follow me"

Batman turned and left, and Spider-Man, still not quite sure of himself, followed right after him.

-X-

"I can't believe we're doing this"

Batman did not initially respond to Spider-Man's comment, and he wouldn't have responded period, but he knew that if he didn't give some justification for it the wall-crawler might dismember their partnership. Thus, he finally said:

"If we want to find out what is going on, we need to find out what Mrs. Osborn knows. And if you're not going to talk to her, then I will"

Spider-Man sighed. No doubt he felt like he was being blackmailed, and Batman acknowledged that in a way, he was. But he was also trying to get him be reasonable.

Finally, Spider-Man replied: "All right. I'll talk to her. Or at least I'll try. Keep in mind if she thinks I killed Harry, she might not want to talk"

"I know." Was Batman's very simple reply.

"And what will you be doing while I play police investigator?"

"I just need to do some detective work. I'll meet back up with you tomorrow, three roof-tops from the Chrysler Building. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just don't stay out too late OK? Mama Spidey can't help but worry"

Batman gave Spider-Man one of his trademark glares and then turned and left. Heaving a sigh, Spider-Man swung off to confront Liz Osborn…

-X-

Liz Osborn sat alone, having calmed Normie back to sleep again, but still unable to sleep herself. The shock of Harry's death still hadn't passed. She still felt dead herself. And they said that Spider-Man had killed him…

"Mrs. Osborn…"

Liz's blood froze. She looked up and could see him. Spider-Man.

"Mrs. Osborn, I know what you're feeling right now, and I swear: I didn't kill your husband"

Liz just continued to stare at him in horror, before the horror began to morph into revulsion.

"Mrs. Osborn please…I didn't kill him…you have to trust me…"

"Get out"

Spider-Man was all set to protest again but thought better of it. Nodding, he turned around and left.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! Should have known that's what would have happened. Argh. Well, I hope Bats has a back-up plan…_

-X-

Batman watched Spider-Man swing away from his hiding place. He could tell the web-slinger hadn't been successful. He could see it in the way he swung away, hurriedly, as if ashamed. Batman reasoned that he would have to do it himself. He was afraid of that.

Making his way into the Osborn mansion, he stealthily travelled through the hallways and the shadows until he at last he came to the office of Harry Osborn. Batman entered the office. It was actually a rather modest sized room. The center-piece was a desk with a computer in the center. Batman locked the door and then went over to the computer. Inserting a hacking device into the computer's jack drive to bypass the password and security systems.

The computer screen flickered to life, and Batman was greeted with the desktop he expected. However, one folder stood out:

THE OSBORN FILES

The Osborn files…now this could prove interesting. Deciding to dig deeper, and also hoping that he would find the answers he sought, Batman clicked on the file. What he was greeted with was truly staggering in a word. There were well over a dozen different sub-folders included. Among these were notes on the organization S.H.I.E.L.D., a device known as the "Infinity Gauntlet", the Sentinels (access to which was restricted) The "Sinister Sixty", and another blocked folder simply named "The Twins" which aroused a fair bit of suspicion in Batman. Finally, there was also a folder that contained a list of metahuman profiles. Batman clicked on this folder to see the list. Once again, he was impressed by what he saw, a virtual library on well over 3 dozen metahumans. Batman scrolled down the list, seeing the first several names:

Allerdyce, John-Pyro

Braddock, Elizabeth-Psylocke

Dillon, Maxwell-Electro

Hardy, Felicia-Black Cat

Kassady, Cletus-Carnage

Murdock, Matthew-Daredevil

Natachios, Elektra

Octavius, Otto-Doctor Octopus

Shultz, Herman-Shocker

Summers, Alexander-Havok

Summers, Scott-Cyclops

Wagner, Kurt-Nightcrawler

Walker, John-US Agent

Williams, Eric-Grim Reaper

The list seemed never-ending. Curiously, Batman wondered if it kept records on Gotham superhumans as well as those in New York. He typed in Catwoman to see. And sure enough, a profile of her popped up, detailing her first sighting, police reports on her, and even a visual evolution of her various cat-suits over the years. Batman tried another: Two-Face. And indeed, his background, from his abusive childhood to his time as District Attorney to his tragic descent into darkness to his equally tragic failed attempts at reform; it was all there. Osborn obviously kept notes on many, and was not restricted to one city. No doubt he had files on all of Batman's allies in the Justice League…

His immediate suspicions satisfied, Batman typed in the name he knew would yield the most information:

Spider-Man.

Almost on cue, information on the web-head filled the entire screen, with folders, and documents, and more covering up other things on him that had popped up first. Everything was here: records of past battles, newspaper stories, police reports, interviews with anyone who so much as claimed to have associated with Spider-Man, even information on a supposed small group of people who had come to view Spider-Man as a cult like figure, even going as far as to label the Green Goblin as "the evil one" to Spider-Man's guardian angel.

All of it was fairly interesting, and was more then enough confirmation that there was more to Harry Osborn then met the eye. That also suggested that the Harry Osborn who laid in a New York morgue was the real one, having been driven by vengeance to assume the mantle of the Green Goblin. But there seemed to be something missing. There were still missing pieces of the puzzle, Batman could feel it. This was too easy. One computer never held all the answers. Not during the entire time he had been doing his job. Then, another folder caught his eye:

"Miles Warren's Notes"

Curious, Batman clicked on it. He couldn't believe what he was greeted with.

_Of course._

Standing to get up, Batman's ears picked up the sound of a burning engine…

The window was smashed, a bomb blasted Batman back. And next thing he knew, he was being stared down by…the Green Goblin.

"Well, is it my birthday today? Heh, heh, heh…HAHAHAHAHA!"


End file.
